A MEETING OF Fine Gael members in Waterford has unanimously passed a no-confidence motion in the party’s TD John Deasy.

The motion was passed by a number of the party’s local members at a constituency meeting in Dungarvan last night.

Responding to the motion, a spokesman for Fine Gael said that Deasy had received a mandate from the Waterford electorate during the 2016 general election.

In a statement, the spokesman added that the party’s general secretary would consult its members and representatives in Waterford on finalising its ticket for the next general election.

Deasy has served as a TD for the county since 2002, but announced in 2017 that he would not stand in the next election over concerns about his health.

In 2004, he was sacked from the party’s front bench for smoking tobacco in the members bar at Leinster House just days after the introduction of the smoking ban.

In 2017, he was also appointed as a government envoy to US Congress to work with the undocumented Irish living in the US.

With reporting from Christina Finn.